You do sometimes see cocoa pods sold as fruits by the side of the road, but usually it's not because the farmers don't know what to do with them, but rather because they know the tourist buses that ply the road to the Mekong Delta will stop there and they can sell the pods at 'novelty item' value which is far > than their value sold to a fermentary, even one like that created by Grand Place which pays a pretty good price. Generally speaking volumes are low (5000 t pa = 0.1% of world production) but it doesn't mean the cacao is not interesting.
Hi Mel, you can contact me by email: samuel@marouchocolate.com
Cheers,
Sam
Hi all,
I was wondering if any of you have an opinion about foil vs. paper-backed foil vs. plastified foil and how you can certify the food-grade quality of your wrapping.
Thanks,
Samuel
On the same topic you may also want to check this short but well written opinion piece :
[Edited to add: The study, "which followed hundreds of Nicaraguan coffee farmers over a decade, concluded that farmers producing for the fair-trade market are more often found below the absolute poverty line than conventional producers.
Over a period of 10 years, our analysis shows that organic and organic-fair trade farmers have become poorer relative to conventional producers.]
Nat, many thanks for posting this, I devoured it, it's a very nice piece of academic research, I'll be in touch with Vanh.
Hi Mickey,
I totally agree with Brad, a proper business plan is a must. I did write and implement a few of them in my previous career before turning to chocolate and they included a few extra zeros compared with our current artisanal bean-2-bar chocolate project.
Also agree with an earlier comment: a decent business plan allows you to tap into bank / investors which can make all the difference between day dreaming about your company and actually getting it started.
Having said that the investment and monthly spend figures that you quoted are small but not unrealistic as such, but it's just impossible to say without the other side of the equation:
How much are you selling your products for?
Based on that, how much margin are you making on each unit you are selling (leaving aside fixed costs)?
How many units are you going to sell?
If you find out that your number of units x margin per unit eventually covers your fixed costs you're on the right track. I sometimes see people getting fixated on the margin % without thinking of the production numbers, which are just as important: say you are making a 100% margin on reindeer-shaped chocolates you import from northern Latvia, they cost you 1USD and you sell them for 2, that's a really good margin, but, assuming it takes you time and effort to source and sell your wares, unless you know for sure you can sell a couple thousands of them per month you're probably better off keeping your day job.
Cheers,
Sam
I think another advantage of the Selmi (or similar designs, other brands we've looked at like Chocolate World or Gami make nearly identical machines) over the wheel is that you can keep feeding it with melted chocolate for a truly continuous production.
What happens is that with a wheel machine you have to temper the chocolate in the beginning and then keep it in temperature and motion so that it doesn't solidify. In the Selmi you have a 'tap' and a 'sink' (although I think they call it a tank, but it's actually open like a sink. Between those 2 is a circuit that pumps the chocolate from the sink and spits it out through the tap. Unlike in a wheel machine, the tank just contains melted chocolate, not tempered chocolate and the tempering process (cooling at a precise temperature) actually happens in the circuit between the sink and the tap: that's why you get tempered chocolate coming out of the tap, and as you use up the content of the tank you can add more chocolate pellets or more melted chocolate from a kettle. The result is much higher productivity, but the extra cost can probably only be justified if you have the quantity to match.
You should ask Hans...
Hi Clay, sure, here are a few of the photos! Btw I'd like to add the caveats I mentioned in y reply to Thomas: these are pictures of our guillotine when new. 2 years on it's still pretty much in daily usage and aging gracefully. If you are interested in one we'll have to check prices &availabilityagain (it's been 2 years...).
Hi Thomas, sure give me your email address and I will send you photos.
